Our Productivity Imperative
Let’s think for a moment about the challenge we have in supporting our ageing population. In the 1950’s there were around 8 people working for every retired person. There’s currently between 4-5 people working for every person in retirement, and the projections suggest that in 50 years’ time there’ll only be two. Clearly the economics don’t stack up. The only realistic solutions to this are: (1) To keep people working longer by continuing to raise the retirement age or (2) to get those who are working to generate more wealth (i.e. improve productivity). I know which option I would prefer…
The Simplification of Collaboration…
It sounds like a really obvious thing to do but be honest, Collaboration hasn’t actually been that simple until quite recently. The geeks among us have been willing to accept an element of frustration in configuration or operation but if our aim is for proliferation, we need simplification.
…gosh – was that was too many words ending in “-ation”?
Anyway, proliferation is precisely our aim – Collaboration needs to be for Everyone. It’s only when an entire organisation embraces collaboration that we truly realise the huge potential we have to improve productivity and efficiency. Making businesses and governments more productive is not a nice to have. It’s essential.
So coming back to the point, if Collaboration is going to be truly pervasive, we need to continue to make it simpler, more affordable and more enjoyable to use. If we can do that then the potential impact is massive.
Affordability, Simplicity and User Experience
From a Cisco perspective, all of our recent product development has been centred on driving affordability, simplicity and user experience and we believe this will mean we will see a significant uplift in the numbers of people using it.
So even if you haven’t “got the moves like Jabber” (sorry – couldn’t resist it…) you’ll still be able to enjoy the incredible experience Cisco Collaboration technology can now offer. We launched the DX series in the summer and they really are amazing.
Rowan Trollope talked about how we are humanising technology and how everyone can look forward to having an exceptional experience every time. He’s dead right.
I’ve just taken delivery of my own DX80 and it looks the business– I even bought a new desk for my home office so that I could ensure it looked its best when it arrived! (… and yes – before you ask, I am the type of person who washes and polishes his car every weekend…). We also have an impressive new WebEx offering with a dazzling new user interface and an ultra-fast loading time. But the most exciting new addition to the Cisco Collab family is definitely our Collaboration Meeting Room. CMR is amazing. It allows you to have your very own personal virtual meeting room which is always on, always available and incredibly easy to access from any device.
Rowan talked about CMR in his recent blog– have a look. It really reinforces where the technology is going and how conferencing is now evolving.
We’ve just announced a load of other new stuff at our recent Collab Summit in LA so stay tuned for some more detail on that in my next blog. In the meantime, have a great holiday break when it comes and feel free to come and join me for a chat in my personal meeting room!
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Great post, I agree – simplification is the key to adoption! and I’m sure this will continue to happen across all the technologies and innovations at Cisco.